DPA to 'Blaze a New Trail' with Safety Summit in Tucson
Starting tomorrow and running through Tuesday, Distributor Partners of America is hosting an inaugural Safety Products Show at Loews Ventana Canyon Resort and Spa in Tucson, Ariz. Billed as both a "Safety Summit" and a Buying and Networking Conference, the event is designed to bring together preferred DPA members and safety industry suppliers for exposure to their products and services. The theme for this first-of-its-kind event is "Blazing a New Trail."
"Unlike other trade shows, DPA's 'Blazing a New Trail' has scheduled 'rotations' where safety products distributors and suppliers meet one-on-one for approximately 15 minutes," said DPA Executive Director Zachary Haines. "Suppliers exhibit behind their tabletop booth, and after 15 minutes are up, each DPA member rotates to the next booth in their rotation order. You really accomplish a lot by the time the conference is over."
Among the companies listed as DPA safety suppliers are MCR Safety, West Chester Holdings, Bradley Corporation, The Andersen Company, Tingley Rubber, and National Marker Company. Some of the distributors slated to attend are Marshal Safety (Evansville, Ind.), Sentry Safety (Peoria, Ill.), Parker Industrial Safety (Avilla, Ind.), and Miller Safety (New Kensington, Pa.).
Suppliers attending the event will have the opportunity to learn about safety marketing strategies from presentations facilitated by Kellie Hoffmeister, DPA's business development manager and founder of Panda Group, a provider of safety marketing, e-commerce sites, and safety product catalog production. DPA joined forces with Panda two years ago to build the Safety and Janitorial Buyers Group, and Panda has been responsible for building vendor alliance programs and inviting safety distributors into the group.
Cincinnati-based DPA (www.dpasafety.com) is a member-driven buying and marketing organization comprised of high-volume, independent distributors in the safety equipment and clothing industries. DPA members receive special pricing, procurement programs, and promotional offers from the organization's preferred partner suppliers.
For more information about the conference or potential DPA membership, call (800) 652-7826 or e-mail Haines at [email protected].